From: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/houston-tx/joe-engle-11892588
Maj.
Gen. Joe Henry Engle (USAF, ANG RET), 91, passed away peacefully at home on
Wednesday, the 10th of July 2024, surrounded by his loving family in Houston,
Texas. Joe Henry was born in Abilene, Kansas on the 26th of August 1932, to
Abner and Margaret Engle and raised in Chapman, Kansas. He was the last
surviving X-15 pilot and the only astronaut to pilot both the X-15 and the Space
Shuttle.
Joe Henry attended his beloved University of Kansas, graduating in 1955 with an
aeronautical engineering degree. He received his commission through the Air
Force Reserve Officers Training Course and after earning his pilots wings, Joe
Henry flew the F-100 Super Sabre with the 474th Fighter Day Squadron and the
309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base, Victorville,
California. After attending the United States Air Force (USAF) Test Pilot School
and Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, he
was selected as a test pilot in the X-15 research program. He went on to fly the
X-15 sixteen times, becoming an astronaut at age 32 flying the X-15 on the 29th
of June 1965.
After selection by NASA in 1966, Joe Henry spent the next 20 years supporting
the nation’s space program beginning with the Apollo program serving as a
CAPCOM, crew member of the 2TV-1 thermo-vacuum test, support crew for Apollo 10,
and backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14, before becoming involved in the
development of the Space Shuttle. In 1977, he commanded two Space Shuttle
Approach and Landing Tests before commanding two orbital space flights, Space
Shuttle Columbia, STS-2, in 1981 and Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-51I, in 1985.
It was during STS-2 that Joe Henry manually flew the Space Shuttle vehicle from
Mach 25 to landing, the first and only pilot to do so.
After retirement from the USAF, Joe Henry served in the Air National Guard as an
assistant to the commander in chief of the US Space Command and NORAD. For over
twenty-five years, he was a critical part of the General Thomas P. Stafford Task
Force and NASA ISS Advisory Committee, providing joint recommendations to NASA
and Roscosmos leadership to foster international space cooperation.
Joe Henry flew more than 180 different aircraft types and logged more than
14,000 flight hours. His military and civilian decorations include the
Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Air Force Distinguished
Service Medal, and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf
Cluster, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and Space Flight Medal, the Harmon
International Aviation Trophy, the Collier Trophy, the Goddard Space Trophy, the
Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy, and the Kinchelow Experimental Test Pilot’s
Trophy. Joe Henry was bestowed with many honors throughout his life, including
his 2001 enshrinement in the National Aviation Hall of Fame and a permanent
exhibit of his life at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 2021.
Outside of flying, Joe Henry was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying many years of
hunting. His fondest memories are the various hunts he shared with dear friends
and family.
He is preceded in death by his first wife Mary Catherine Lawrence; parents,
Abner and Margaret Engle; and sisters, Betty Ann Poland and Jane Engle Smith. He
is survived by his wife Jeanie Engle; children Laurie Rasty and husband Jahan;
Jon Engle and wife Karen; Katharine Carter Garczynski and husband Brandon;
grandchildren Sarah Kate Rasty and Cameron Rasty; and numerous nieces and
nephews.